PPL to pay $45,000 in power cut-off case

State regulators agreed Thursday to settle a case involving a man who was found dead in his home after PPL Electric Utilities cut off his power.

Richard Eberly, 45, of Lititz, Lancaster County, died of natural causes on Aug. 2, 2011, according to an obituary. Two months earlier, PPL had terminated electricity service to his trailer for nonpayment of $5,325, according the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

The PUC voted 5-0 in favor of a $45,000 settlement with PPL. Under the agreement, proposed by the PUC's independent Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement in September, PPL will pay a $30,000 civil penalty and $15,000 to the company's Operation HELP Hardship fund to help low-income customers maintain service.

Also, the company will retrain some of its customer service personnel, provide copies of its monthly call-monitoring reports to the PUC and allow direct monitoring of calls by PUC staff.

The agreement, however, does not require PPL to admit any wrongdoing.

"We are not admitting to any of the PUC staff's allegations set forth in this settlement and have not admitted any wrongdoing," PPL spokesman Joe Nixon said.

PPL agreed, he said, to avoid costly legal proceedings and because the settlement is "in the public interest."

Nixon said that while the utility does not believe it violated any regulations in dealing with Eberly's account, it did agree to improve procedures for handling shut-offs and disputes.

PPL notified the PUC of Eberly's death under a regulation requiring utilities to inform the PUC any time a death occurs after power has been cut off.

The investigation found violations of the public utility code as well as the PUC's regulations "during contacts with the customer prior to and after termination of service," the PUC said in a news release.

Specifically, investigators concluded that PPL cut off power prematurely and failed to place Eberly's account "into dispute" after he protested, which could have altered the course toward termination. Eberly notified PPL six times that he had a medical condition, but did not provide a doctor's note, according to the PUC.

According to the obituary published by LancasterOnline.com, Eberly was an avid hunter and angler who worked as a cabinetmaker and served as an ambulance EMT volunteer. He was survived by three sons, a brother, a sister and a grandson.